


Tell Me Something

by TotidemVerbis



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse)
Genre: End Credits Didn't Happen, F/M, Feelings, Post Deadpool 2, Smut, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:58:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotidemVerbis/pseuds/TotidemVerbis
Summary: Cable had a plan. Stay in the present, prevent his future, die alone.Lo had a plan. Kill the bad guys, make some bank, die alone.There was a plan.Then it all goes to shit.





	1. Bite

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is short, and I won't lie. It's pure porn. The rest of the story has a plot, meaningful and well thought out storylines, but this first chapter demanded to be written. So, have some porn before the plot starts!
> 
> [Story title is taken from _Shallow_ by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Think whatever you want about Gaga and Cooper, but the song is amazing and fits the plot of the story.]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _you can coax the cold right out of me_   
>  _drape me in your warmth_   
>  _the rapture in the dark puts me at ease_   
>  _the blind eye of the storm_   
>  [bite by troye sivan](https://youtu.be/fLuWMOF6vOU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highly recommend clicking the link in the summary and listening as you read.

This isn't how she meant for things to go. She wasn't sure what the plan was supposed to be, but she knows this isn't what either of them had planned. For themselves or in general, but...well, here they are. The worst thing? She isn't going to regret it. She can't see into the future or anything like that, but she knows that she isn't going to regret this. Regret _him_. 

"Fuck! Let me just, wait, now!" Her words are muffled by the sweater hanging around her neck like a scarf, and she blindly reaches out to grab onto anything. Her hands hit against skin and metal, and she curls her fingers as her hips arch away from the wall. Her cunt is stretched open in one smooth thrust, no awkward fumbling, and her head knocks against the wall as she pushes forward and tries to take his cock in even deeper. 

"Goddammit, Lo, hold still," Cable growls into the space between them. There's pressure against her neck and then the sound of ripping fabric, and she locks her ankles above Cable's ass as she takes in a deep breath. She can see him now, and that somehow makes everything feel even more real. This isn't her lying in bed and dreaming. This is real. Maybe a little too real. Her fingers drift across warm skin and ridged metal, more real than her mind can dream up, and something inside of her is pulled tight and ready to snap.

"Would you fucking move already?" She's been wet and aching for the past hour, so she doesn't need the slow and careful routine. 

"Impatient?" Metal fingers curl around her thigh as Cable grins and rolls his hips, and a quiet whine vibrates in the back of her throat. She's gripping his shoulders and trying to move, but she's pinned against the wall. "You got somewhere else you need to be?"

"No." She grits the word out and tightens her inner muscles around the cock slowly grinding deep inside of her. Her eyes close as her head falls back, her thighs flex to no use, and this time her whine is more frustrated as Cable presses harder against her. They're both shirtless, now that her sweater is in pieces, so she can feel the difference between skin and metal against her breasts. 

"Open your eyes, Lo." Fingers, flesh not metal, gently touch against her cheek as a thumb presses against her jaw. He's making sure that she's facing him. Her eyes open, and he's so close. So close that the orange glow from his left eye washes over her face. He's waiting for something, but what? He's already balls deep in her, so what more does he need? 

"Cable." Nothing. Just him looking at her and remaining infuriatingly still. She really hates his patience sometimes. "Cable, please. Please, okay? Plea-"

The hand on her face moves to fist in her hair as he kisses her, and she doesn't even try to hold in her moan as his teeth dig into her bottom lip. She's gripping onto his back as hard as she can to keep him close as he slowly pulls back, and his tongue slips into her mouth with the same slowness that he pushes his cock back into her. She always imagined it'd be rough with him, fast and frenzied. He's got her pinned against the wall, so that part of her dreams is right, but he's kissing her like neither of them need to breathe and fucking her like they haven't spent the past several months talking in insults. It's driving her crazy. Possibly literally because she's making sounds she's never heard before and letting him do whatever he wants. Which is apparently tasting every last corner of her mouth and rolling his hips into hers while his metal hand maps her heaving ribcage.

"You want this." It's said against her sensitive lips, and she tightens her thighs to lift herself up a little so she can drop back down and make the next thrust a little harder. He's not asking a question but he sounds a little confused, so she runs her tongue across his bottom lip and digs her nails into skin and metal. 

"Yes, I want this. Fuck, I want _you_ ," she admits. Teeth dig into her shoulder as he finally thrusts hard enough to push her up the wall a little, and she cries out when he doesn't stop.

It's not slow or torturous anymore. Hands are moving all across her body as Cable fucks into her with strength and speed, and her bitten off moans sound like sobs as she holds on. The metal against her hand is hot, near burning, but she doesn't stop touching him. She's not even sure if she can stop touching him at this point. Cable's got her so pressed into the wall that all she can feel is the way he's moving against her, and she hates feeling like a cliche but he feels fucking perfect. The hands now gripping her ass, the way the dual textures of his body slide against her torso, and especially the way his cock is moving inside of her. It's all so much that she's already on the edge, and she can hear herself babbling as rough fingertips start circling her clit. There's no way she can hold herself back, and she can't think of a reason for why she should.

"Shh, it's okay, Lo. It's okay." It's said directly against her ear as she starts to shake, and the only thing she can make out is the garbled sound of Cable's name as she jumps over that edge and her orgasm rushes through her. Her whole body tenses and pushes back against Cable's, and she's making quiet hitching cries as aftershocks work through her. She feels Cable starting to slow, like he's going to stop, and that gets her eyes to finally open again. 

"No no no no no," she rushes out as her hips buck. She's sensitive and the move causes her to hiss, but she does it again anyway as Cable's eyes meet hers. She's not sure if she can say anything coherent, so she tries to get her point across by repeatedly moving her hips against the hard cock still inside her. 

"I can-" He stops as she frantically shakes her head, and her fingers scramble against his neck as she pulls him down to her. Her lips move against his until he opens up to her, and he lets her taste him as she pulls at his hair and keeps moving against him. 

"Come on, don't do this to me. Please." She says it against the rough stubble of his chin before leaning up to feel the scars on his cheek under her lips, and she can feel the burn starting in her thighs.

Cable must hear the sincerity in her voice, the raw need, because both hands grip her hips to angle her just right as his cock slams into her. She's past sensitive and is more sore now, but something about the stretch feels so good that her toes curl. Shit, she's still wearing one boot with her pants and panties tangled around her ankle. Doesn't matter. All that matters is Cable's hot breath against the side of her neck as he uses her body. Heat is pooling low in her stomach, but she's not focused on herself. She already got hers, so she's able to just _feel_ as Cable starts to fall apart against her. She knows he's close when he starts pulling her hips roughly against his in short thrusts, and she wraps her arms completely around his neck and lets her head roll against the wall as he starts to cum. His teeth are buried in her left shoulder, but she can still hear him groaning as she rotates her hips to draw his orgasm out.

"Shit, Lo. You alright?" His cock is still buried inside her, but only one hand is holding her hip in a bruising grip. His right hand touches her left cheek, and she opens her eyes to see moisture shining wetly on his knuckles. 

"Never been fucked so good I cried," she says in dazed wonder. Knuckles gently drag across her cheek again, to wipe away the rest of the tears, and she can't read the look on Cable's face. The man is still literally inside of her but she can't read him. 

"Fuckin' focus, Lo. You alright?" His voice sounds wrecked, just as wrecked as hers, and she's not really sure why that's so comforting. 

"I'm good. Cable?" He grunts as he slides out of her, and she's a little impressed at how quickly and smoothly he twists her body so that he's holding her crossways in his arms. Her inner thighs are sticky and she's sore all over, but she still has her arms wrapped around Cable's shoulders and he's holding her close instead of putting her down.

"What, Lo?" He sounds tired, and she feels completely exhausted. Like she could sleep for a week. How are Cable's pants still up?

"How the hell did we wind up here?" She's sweaty, sticky, and bruised. She feels more vulnerable than she's ever felt before, but she also feels...content. Not safe, never safe, but like maybe she's in a good place. 

"Hell if I know," Cable grunts and lifts her a little higher. She tightens her hold on him as he starts to walk backwards, until he collapses to sit on the couch, and she ends up cradled naked in his lap. It's not as weird or uncomfortable as it should be. Cable's arms wrap around her, to keep her close, and she presses her cheek against too-hot metal. 

"Hell if I know," she repeats in a mumble and lets herself relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> I promise that the next chapter will be longer and contain actual plot, so that this chapter will make some semblance of sense.


	2. Flesh and Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _i walk alone_   
>  _beside myself_   
>  _nowhere to go_   
>  _my flesh and bone_   
>  _this part of me_   
>  _seeds I've sown_   
>  [flesh and bone by black math](https://youtu.be/Otkly-JbXKU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot! If you're reading this, that means you made it through the first chapter and still kept reading so thanks for that! This is where the plot of the story starts, but don't worry. The smut isn't gone forever. There's just going to be a little buildup. Because of the plot.

**Six Months Earlier**

Cable sees the girl exit the alley just as the asshole he's been after fires. The way her body jolts as the bullet hits her is almost comical. Her torso goes inward while her hands fly forwards, shooting plastic bags into the street, and he sees light colored hair sway under a streetlight as she falls back. He's on his feet and out from behind the car he was using for cover as she hits the concrete, and all he can see of her now is a pair of overly large bright pink boots. Combat boots that sparkle. That's his last thought before he hits his knees next to her body.

"Mother! Fucker!" Wade's yelling in the street and there's screaming, so Cable doesn't have to worry about the asshole spraying bullets everywhere. "Didn't! Your mother! Teach you! Not to shoot! Little girls!"

It's not a little girl, but definitely still female. There's slight curves under a baggy sweater, and long hair is spread out across the dirty alley. Dark eyes are staring upwards, and she's taking quick breaths while lying absolutely still. Shock. Most civilians scream and cry when they're shot, but her only movement is the rapid rising and falling of her diaphragm. There's blood on the concrete, creeping under his knees, so the bullet hit somewhere in her midsection. The sweater is too dark for him to see any bloodstains, so he pulls it up to get a look at the damage.

"Hands. Off." Her voice is low and angry, piss and gravel, and he narrows his eyes at the skintight shirt she's wearing under the sweater. It's not even cold at night, so why the extra layers? Is the universe fucking with him?

"You've been shot." He keeps his voice level as he reaches for the bottom of this shirt, it's the closest he gets to comforting, and hands reach out to push against him. Small hands, a surprising amount of strength, leather. She's wearing gloves. 

"Don't you fucking touch me!" she yells as he gets the tight undershirt up. It's like peeling away an extra layer of skin. He can see the ragged hole on her side, probably a through-and-through with no real damage, but she's bleeding out all over the street. "You fucking deaf, gramps?! Don't fucking tou-"

His flesh hand presses down hard against the hole above her hip, right under her ribs which means she was damn lucky, and she makes a sound in the back of her throat like a dying animal. For a second, he thinks the shock is wearing off and that she's feeling the pain. Then her head kicks back so hard that he can hear the impact of her skull against the concrete, and her body twists and arches so that her side is pressing up against his hand. When she starts to scream, it feels like someone is digging blades into his brain as the lights go out. No, the pain is deeper. Digging blades into his soul and leaving him flayed open, and greedy hands are grasping at everything he is and leaving dirty smears. 

"Holy fucksickle! That looks like it hurts. On a scale of one to-"

"You stupid motherfucker! I told you not to touch me!" Cable's sight returns, and he sees his skin covered in her blood and pressed tight against the still bleeding hole in her side. Drifting up her side, against previously unblemished pale skin, there's blooming and moving shapes. Like smoke curling through the air. As he's watching, that smoke drifts down onto the skin under his thumb. It feels cold. "Now I'm gonna have to kill you. That's just fucking great."

The girl passes out as soon as the words leave her lips, and he makes a hard swipe over her bleeding side. Through the blood, he can see lines burned into her skin. Neat and precise letters, like someone took their time carving each and every little detail, and it's his name. Not the name he gives people or even just his first name. His entire name has been branded into her skin, branded deep, and the smoke curling across her ribcage darkens as he uses his thumb to plug the bleeding hole on her side. Wade's off to the side laughing like the lunatic he is, so Cable rocks her onto her other side and sees a small exit wound on her back. She'll be fine. She just needs to be stitched up and then to tell him what the hell is going on. 

"Shit for brains! Get the car!" Wade's still laughing even as he flaps his arm and goes for his phone to call his personal taxi, and Cable looks down at the unconscious woman splayed out in an alley. She looks normal, but nothing about what's happened in the past few minutes is normal.

He knew he shouldn't have taken this damn job.

**•xXx•**

Lo realizes her mistake as soon as she steps one foot out of the alley. She's still cursing herself for such a rookie mistake, because who forgets to make sure that the street you're walking out onto doesn't contain a shootout, when the bullet catches her in the side. At least she was able to turn enough that it doesn't do any real damage as it rips right through her. Her snack food goes flying out of her hands as she lets gravity do its thing, and she prepares herself for the landing coming her way by cursing herself six ways from Sunday.

 _"Should've just stayed in and ate the moldy bread,"_ she thinks as her breath is pushed out of her lungs by concrete.

Her eyes stay open, staring blankly at the dark sky and dull streetlights on her peripheral, as she catalogs the damage. Like she thought, the damage is minimal for a GSW. The entry hole is between her left hip and ribcage, and she can tell that the exit wound is on her back. That means no messy bone damage or that she'll spend the night digging a bullet out. She's counting this as a win. She'll have to turn down jobs for a while, but she can handle missing work for a bit. She just did a job and got paid pretty good, so she's covered. It'll be like the vacation she keeps meaning to take. Lots of r-and-r and maybe she'll even go get laid. 

She's vaguely aware of a man kneeling at her side, but she ignores him because he's not the ass who shot her. She'll worry about him later. Right now, she needs to slow her breathing and then work on getting to her feet. She refuses to still be lying in an alley when the cops finally decide to show up. Then the bastard next to her reaches for her sweater and starts pulling it up. If he was a normal human, she'd let him play Concerned Citizen. Under the pain of getting shot, there's the familiar icy feeling deep in her gut signaling that she's close to a mutant. The iceberg that took out the Titanic is taking up shop in her midsection, so she's danger-fucking-close to a mutant.

"Hands. Off." 

_"Really, brain? Is that all we can say? How about a warning?!"_ Lo thinks frantically as her sweater moves. The guy is a mutant, so if she tells him that it's too dangerous to touch her then there's a good chance he won't think she's completely batshit. 

Then he goes and tells her the fucking obvious. She's been shot? Really?! If that's him comforting someone who appears to be in shock, because she's not in shock-she's processing, then he really needs to work on it. She tries reaching out to push him away, but of course Concerned Citizen has to be built like a brick shithouse and immovable. So she tries more yelling since she can't seem to get out a proper warning.

Her undershirt is peeled upwards, and warm air drifts over her bared midsection. Her left side is both ticklish and itchy under the still leaking blood, and she wants to squirm under the stranger's gaze but can't make herself move. She hates feeling exposed and vulnerable, and right now she's got a new hole in her side and a strange _mutant_ is staring down at her. So she tries yelling one last time and fails before even getting the whole thing out. Such a huge fail. 

Skin presses against skin, and she can feel even through all the blood. Warm, rough. Wide palm. Thick fingers. Her insides are ice but the touch is full of heat. There's a sound echoing in her ears, she's screaming as pain tears her apart, and this hurts so much worse than a stray bullet. Everything in her just wants it to stop, stop it before it really gets going, but it's already too late. 

_The air smells sweet and settles in his lungs easier than he's used to._

_Wade's dancing around their shared apartment in his underwear again. Wade is...complicated. He might be a friend, if he allows himself that. Wade isn't the reason he's here though. (Deadpool. Mask...to cover the scars, cover the pain, can't hide the crazy.)_

_He needs to kill the kid. Doesn't want to. Has to. Has to save them while there's still time. (But what is time? This isn't his time. He doesn't belong here, but he stays.)_

_Hope. Her name is Hope._

**[She needs it to stop. She doesn't want to see this. Doesn't want to see burned bodies and a ruined future. She needs it to stop.]**

_Fighting. Always fighting. It never stops, he never stops. He keeps fighting because that's what he was born to do. Bred to do._

_The virus hurts, whenever he slips. The feel of metal eating away at flesh. It's just another price he's paid._

_The first time she smiles at him, he can't feel any of his open wounds. When she's born, he understands why he's been fighting. Seeing them together, burned beyond recognition, breaks him._

_Orphan. Lost. Mutant. Soldier._

**Nathan Christopher Charles Summers.**

"You stupid motherfucker! I told you not to touch me!" she screams as she comes back to herself. She's Lo. A subpar mutant and occasionally a good contract killer. She's not a time-traveling dude with a dead wife and daughter who is now stuck in the past and rooming with a possible psychopath. Dear God, she knows everything about Na-no. She's not going to call him that. She's not going to call him anything because she knows how to solve this. "Now I'm gonna have to kill you. That's just fucking great."

He's glaring down at her as she starts to pass out, but she knows what he looks like when he smiles. When he laughs, when he cums, when he cries. She really can't pass out fast enough.

**•xXx•**

Cable can hear the others talking on the other side of the door. Wade had broken into a back room of Sister Margaret's, and it's just his luck that Domino and Weasel caught them. Wade held them off while he carried the girl into the small room and dropped her on a scarred wooden table, and it hasn't taken him long to stitch her up. So now he's just looking at her and trying to figure out what the hell happened back in that alley.

She told him not to touch her, repeatedly, but he assumed that was the shock talking. Now he's sure it was some kind of warning, but for what? His name is on her side, close to her bottom rib, and he keeps tracing those indented lines with his eyes. It's not like a tattoo. Not stark black. Not smooth white. Raw red, fresh. He cleaned the blood off, but the stitched hole is still exposed. The wounds look similar. Above his name, twisting over her ribs, is that black mark. It looks like tar, dripping across her skin and marring the flesh. 

With a quiet sound, he tugs down her tight undershirt and then pulls down the loose sweater too. It doesn't help. He can still see his fucking name in her skin, some stranger that he doesn't even know, and it's driving him crazy. It's taking all his training not to force her awake and demand to know what's happened. (Another part of him wants to rip his name off of her, to tear at her skin until it's erased.)

"Sweet mahogany, what'd you do to Lo?!" Weasel screeches as he comes stumbling into the room. 

"The fuck kind of name is Lo?" Cable asks as Weasel moves to stand at the head of the table. He's sitting in a rusty chair at her side, and he's not moving until he gets his answers.

"No way! You guys got Lo shot?" Domino asks next.

"You do realize that's not a real name, right? It's important to me that you know that," he hears Wade saying. He keeps his focus on Weasel, who's shaking just a little under the steady gaze. 

"She comes to me for jobs. She's good. Discreet. Keeps covered up even when it's fuck-hot outside, but who isn't weird in this franchise?"

"My line!"

"Pretty sure she's a mutant. She's never confirmed or denied, but it's a vibe. She passed out from a gunshot? She came to get her money this one time with a hole in her shoulder plugged with some toilet paper and duct tape. Passing out from a flesh wound? Completely out of character," Weasel babbles. All Cable gets out of the river of bullshit is what he already knows: she's more than likely a mutant and tough. 

"I smell a plot," Wade sings. Cable's two seconds away from telling him to can the crazy when the girl groans, and he looks down as her head rolls to the side and her eyes struggle to open. 

"All that's gonna happen is that this dumb motherfucker is gonna die. Roll credits," she grits out. Wade gasps theatrically, but her eyes never leave his. Green. The deep color of the leaves in this time. Green, dark, and unflinching. 

"Hey, Lo. How's it going?" Cable can see Domino waving from the corner of his eye, but the girl never even twitches. She just keeps staring at him. 

"Got shot. Lost my Twinkies. Got violated by gramps here. It's been a helluva day, Dom." The more she talks, the more he picks up on a faint accent. She's hiding it. 

"Ha! She called you gramps! High-five tiny stranger with a fake name." Wade's hand curls around his shoulder as he extends his other arm towards the horizontal girl, and she raises her arm and slaps his open palm all without looking away from Cable's eyes. 

"It's called a nickname, and it's a shortened version of my name. No, I'm not going to tell you my name. Sorry, but you have to be a level five friend at least and no one makes it past level three." She talks as much bullshit as Wade does. "Weasel, Domino, Handsome Stranger, can I have the room please? I need to commit an act of violence."

"All yours, Lo. Feel better soon." Weasel pats her shoulder before walking off, and Domino slowly trails behind him.

"I'll drop off some Twinkies later this week. Kick ass, girlfriend." She puckers her lips and makes a loud kissing sound, and Cable realizes that Wade is now the only one left in the room. 

"Don't kill the girl!" Wade sings before the door slams shut. It's just the two of them now. 

"What happened?" She blinks, twice in quick succession, before her eyes squeeze shut as she laughs. Her entire body is shuddering with the sound, and he has the sudden urge to grab her and shake her. 

"What! Happened!" She yells it out in between laughs, and he hates that he notices little details about her. Light colored freckles across her crinkled up nose and pale cheeks. White blonde hair, no dark roots, dark eyebrows. She looks washed out, faded. 

"Start talking or I'll-"

"You'll what?" She's looking straight at him again. The laughter is gone, and the smile stretching her colorless lips looks cruel. More like a grimace. Like she's in pain. "Can't use your telepathy on me. Nope, holding back that nasty cyborg virus takes too much of that energy. Torture me? You're pretty good at it, telekinetically and with your hands, but there's really no need. I promise I'll spill my guts." 

"You read me?"

_Ropes of intestines are on his boots but his target is still breathing. Still talking. Mission is successful._

"That would be too easy." Her face twists with pain as her hands grip the table, and he leans back in his chair as she struggles to sit up. She turns so that her legs hang over the side and to face towards him, and she holds her back straight as she looks down at him. "What? All out of funny one-liners?" 

"If you know what I've done and what I can do, I don't have to say anything. You'll tell me what I want to know."

"Simple version, got it. Let's summarize this bitch." Her gloved hands run up and down her thighs, and the dirty jeans are stained with her blood and alley filth. 

_"I don't know her and I hate her,"_ he thinks as tacky blood makes his right palm itch. 

"Me, mutant. Ability, to link with other mutants. By link, I mean that I learn every single thing about a mutant as if I lived their life. That link creates a bond. I feel what that mutant feels, I can sense where that mutant is at all times, I am linked to that mutant til death does us part. You getting it, _Cable_? For a few very painful seconds, I was you. Now I'm going to be stuck with your angry depressed black tornado feelings and I will always know where you are, until you cease to exist. All because you're too fucking stupid to understand the words no touching!" Spit froths on her lips as she yells, and something inside his stomach twists. Like taking a knife to the gut. 

"What if I die for a few seconds? That enough to cut the link?" He can die for a few seconds. He can't live with a tie like that. 

"No. The link fades gradually. Don't suppose you're ready to make that death wish a reality?" The sound he makes is a snarl, like an enraged animal caught in a trap, and she bares her teeth in some semblance of a smile as she leans down towards him. 

"What if you die for a few seconds?" he asks once she leans back and straightens up again. 

"Tried that once. I came back. The linked mutant didn't." 

"Fuck." The word just slips out of him, and her smile is almost soft this time. At least it might be if her lips weren't bloodless and her eyes didn't look empty. 

"Super fucked. I better not turn into a cyborg."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The big chunks of italicized words were little flashbacks of Cable's life. I kept it vague for now, but I'll go ahead and give some spoilers. I'm not going to write the comic background because: _ho-ly shit_ , that is a lot of twisty convoluted storylines to remember. Cable's life story is going to be simplified for my sanity and hopefully for the sanity of whoever reads this story. 
> 
> If you think I'm messing up someone's characterization, please let me know. I try to stick as close to canon and believability (within the universe) as I possibly can, so I like knowing what I'm messing up. 
> 
> Lo is meant to be a bit of a mystery. Learning everything right out of the gate is no fun, and more will definitely be revealed as the story progresses. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Losing Hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> _take it all_  
>  _push it out_  
>  _like it's smoke_  
>  _nothing's left_  
>  _in your chest_  
>  _no control_  
> [losing hold by esterly feat. austin jenckes](https://youtu.be/-hLoU2qP4zc)  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like this chapter. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I do. I hope you like it too!
> 
> This chapter picks up right where the last one left off.

Lo locks her eyes with Cable's and waits him out. It's a lot to process, so she's going to keep biting the inside of her bottom lip so her mouth will stay shut. 

She wants to cry. 

Wants to puke. 

To scream.

Die. 

All of those emotions belong to her. Those emotions are dulled under an onslaught of anger and disgust, and it feels like icicles are digging into her left ribcage. She knows what she feels, but Cable's emotions are stronger. The anger causes her hands to curl into a tight fists on top of her thighs, and the disgust burns the back of her throat like bile. She hates this part the most. No one should be this close to another being. It's not right. 

"How many times have you done this?" His voice is quiet, but the deep bass fills the small room they're in. Definitely a small room above Sister Margaret's. 

"Linked with someone? It's not like I've kept count," she answers with a shrug. She really hasn't kept count, and she can sense a small tendril of confusion around her right shoulder blade. Maybe, just this once, she can explain a little bit. "Sometimes I get sent after mutants, and don't give me that judgy look. I only kill criminals, so I only purposefully create links with mutants that have it coming. It makes tracking them easier, and it's a lot easier to kill someone when you can actually see all the awful shit they've done." 

"Can you have more than one link at a time?" She isn't used to being questioned. The mutants she links with don't even know what's happened, and the link never lasts for more than a few days. She can't kill Cable though. 

"Big fat no. Once I'm linked, that's it. I can touch as many mutants as I want now without worrying about a link, because I've got you." She winks at the end and grins when Cable just stares blankly at her. Joke's on him, because she can feel a spark of rage in her left knee. "I can't kill you." 

"I know you can't." Huh. Faint amusement makes her nose twitch, and she twists to rub her nose against the top of her shoulder. 

"Fighting you for real would end with me dead. I'm not stupid enough to think I could actually beat you in hand-to-hand combat, but that's not why I can't kill you. I'm talking morally. Morally, I can't kill you." 

"Morally?" Oh yeah, this conversation is getting weirder and weirder. 

"You're a good guy, morally speaking. You're also only here so you can stop the future from turning into a complete horror show. If I kill the guy trying to save the world, what does that make me?" He makes a quiet grunt, and she slowly opens her hands. "I also am not ready to kick the proverbial bucket, so this is something that we're just going to have to deal with until one of us dies of natural causes." 

"What does dealing with it entail?" 

"Good question. I've never been in this situation before, so we're gonna have to wing it." Great, now there's some itchy annoyance mixed in with all of Cable's other dark emotions. "Maybe nothing has to change. We leave this room, go our separate ways, and pray that our paths never cross again."

"That simple, huh?" He stays perfectly still in his chair as she inches her way off of the table, and she carefully rests a hand over her side where the bullet entered. Cable doesn't even tip his head back to look at her, just raises his eyes. 

"Hey, I'm the one who has to suffer with your prickly emotions. You'll be able to live as none the wiser. So, uh, nice meeting ya. Thanks for the stitches. Have a nice life." Lo says each line as she takes another step towards the door, and she takes slow breaths as she does her best to ignore all of the emotions that aren't hers. She can do this. She _will_ do this. "See ya never, Cable."

**•xXx•**

Cable keeps seeing Lo as she left that small room above the bar. Sparkling pink boots disturbing the dust on the floor, dirty stained jeans, rust showing in the back of her pale hair from where her head kicked back into the pavement. That last part is what he keeps getting stuck on. Her blood is still caked under his nails, but he never noticed that the back of her head was bleeding. So now he just keeps seeing that dark smear against the back of her head and hearing the breathless sound of her voice as she shuffled out of the room.

_"We're gonna have to wing it...see ya never, Cable."_

"Ooh, someone's got his thinking face on."

Cable opens his eyes to see Deadpool's face right in front of his, so that he's staring into the mask's white eyes. This is what he gets for sitting on the couch, out in the open. He places his hand over the mask and gives one hard push, and Wade yelps as he topples backwards. Besides the mask, the only thing he's wearing is a pair of white boxers with colored on red hearts. He feels his usual annoyance and irritation whenever Wade is being...Wade, and can Lo feel it too? 

"You are totally thinking about Little Miss Fake Name! Come on. Tell your buddy Wade all about Discount Rogue." The mask is lying on the floor next to Wade's hip now, and toes prod just above Cable's right ankle. He probably shouldn't have told Wade about the link, but he had to complain about the situation to someone. As sad as it is, Wade's all he has in this time. 

"Nothing to talk about." She said it best. They left separately, and that's how things between them are going to stay. Separate. He just needs to forget that his name is in her skin and the way dried blood looks in her hair.

"This is going to blow up in your face so bad that you're going to look like me," Wade says and then starts laughing while pointing at his face. Cable just grunts and goes back to trying to forget.

**•xXx•**

It's been two full days since she got shot and was forcibly linked to a time traveler, and it's not all bad. Walking hurts thanks to the bullet holes, but the icy inkblot on her side kind of helps with that. The moving blob is a reminder of her connection to Cable, just as much of a reminder as the name above her hip, but she's fine as long as she doesn't look at herself shirtless. She's still dealing with Cable's emotions too, but he's a pretty stable guy considering all the shit he's been through. His base emotion is anger, there's the occasional spike of annoyance, and sometimes she feels faint amusement. So, really, it's not all that bad.

"Lo?! You okay in there?!" There's a few more knocks against her door, and she presses a hand against her hip as she drags her feet across the floor. 

"I'm coming!" she calls back. She's not exactly prepared for guests, but she likes Domino so it's all good. Hey, there's one way that this unwanted link is working for her. Normally around Dom, she has to stay completely covered up. Right now, the only clothing she's wearing is a pair of loose shorts and a baggy tank top. No socks, no gloves, and her long hair is even twisted up on top of her head. She can expose as much skin as she wants around her only mutant friend.

Six undone locks later, Lo swings her front door open and immediately smiles. Domino looks as amazing as always, and Lo completely ignores the cheese dip stain on her white tank as Domino looks her over. What? She got shot and is officially on vacation, so she can wear old stained clothes if she wants to. Domino meets her eyes after a quick sweep of her body, and Lo widens her grin. 

"You look like shit," Domino says with a smile of her own. 

"You look beautiful. Is that for me?" She's holding a bag in one hand, and she lifts the bag a little higher and lets it swing. 

"Twinkie care package. For the bullet wound and super fun bond with Cable." Lo had been reaching out for the bag, but now she feels frozen. Hand outstretched, balanced on the toes of her right foot, and her eyes dry out as she forgets to blink. 

"How did-what-huh?" Yeah, because that makes sense. Domino makes a sympathetic face before taking a step forward, and her hand is soft against her shoulder as she delivers a pity-pat before walking into Lo's apartment. 

"Cable told Wade who told me. I'm feeling a little hurt, Lo. You never told me about your weird mutant powers." By the time Lo locks three of her locks and turns around, Domino is sitting on her sagging couch with her feet kicked up on the coffee table Lo found in an abandoned crack house. 

"Because my weird mutant powers are nothing to brag about," Lo says as she walks over to the couch and collapses onto the cushion next to Domino. The plastic bag is dropped into her lap, and she smiles over at the other mutant. "It's definitely not as cool as being lucky." 

"You have a psychic bond with Cable. Cable!" Domino yells in emphasis. Lo is already digging through the bag and tearing open the box of Twinkies, and she glances over at Domino as she grabs the first individually wrapped snack.

"It's not a psychic bond. I can just sense his emotions and where he's at. That's all." As soon as the words are out of her mouth, she's jamming a Twinkie down her throat. 

"How's he feeling?"

"Piffed off," she answers around spongy goodness and cream. 

"Where is he?" Lo raises her arm and points behind her, in the vague direction where she feels a pull. She swallows her snack and looks over at Domino, who is already looking at her.

"Pretty far off though. I'm thinking he's out of the state." 

"Yeah, him and Wade are taking down some child traffickers a few states away. So, you're bonded to him but it doesn't mean anything?" Domino sounds confused, and Lo can understand why. Her mutation is weird as fuck. 

"Means absolutely nothing," Lo answers and crams another Twinkie down her gullet. 

That's probably a lie, but Lo likes living in denial. The longest she's ever been linked to another mutant is nineteen days, and that ended in absolute disaster. She thought she was going insane towards the end, and the whole experience still gives her nightmares. She's only ever used her mutation to make it easier for her to kill assholes and make some money, so she's not sure how this is going to end. Who knows? Maybe she'll snap by the end of the month and decide to check out, suicide-by-Cable style. The thought makes her snort in laughter, and Domino looks curiously at her.

"Weird mutation or not, it's cool to see you so relaxed. I've never seen your biceps before. You work out?" Lo snorts out another laugh, because the whole thing is so damned bizarre. 

"No super strength, so it's all up to old fashioned weight lifting," Lo says and grins. She was always kind of small growing up, so she started exercising more after she decided to make contract killing her day job. It's paid off. She's still small, but at least she's got the muscle to back up her punches whenever someone thinks she's an easy mark. 

"What are you going to do with your downtime?" Domino asks after a moment.

"First, I'm going to eat this whole box of Twinkies. Next, I don't know. Maybe buy a TV?" They both turn to look straight ahead at the old boxy TV sitting against the opposite wall, and their heads turn in sync to look at the long crack that runs down the middle of the screen. 

"I'll take you shopping. We'll see if we get lucky and find a sale," Domino decides and then smiles over at her. 

"This is why I like you."

"Still only a level three friend?"

"The only level three friend."

"Lucky me." They share a look before they both start laughing, and Lo relaxes even though there's a pull in her gut towards Cable because she's got a feeling that everything is going to be alright. Everything is going to be just fine.

**•xXx•**

Lo wakes up with a strangled scream and claws uselessly at her left shoulder, and she can taste blood in the back of her throat. Her blanket is tangled around her knees, so she hits her bedroom floor when she tries to stand up. The harsh landing causes another rough scream to burn her throat, and she rolls over onto her back. She can hear her own panting breaths over the sounds of the city outside of her bedroom, and she pushes against her left shoulder as hot tears drip down her icy cheeks. She's freezing, her teeth are actually chattering, and she's so confused. She was sleeping, so what's wrong with her?

_Fuck._

What's wrong with Cable? More importantly, why can she feel his pain? She's only supposed to feel his emotions, not any physical sensations. This isn't normal. Sweet Hell, this is not normal. Her body is bucking against a pain that isn't hers, and every part of her is so cold now. No, wait, not every part. The name on her hip is blazing hot, but there's sharp icy pains digging into her ribs. 

"You motherfucker. You just had to be complicated," she groans out between clenched teeth. It's only day four of their link, so it shouldn't be this strong. 

Lo clenches her eyes shut and forces her hands away from her left shoulder. Her palms press flat against the floor on either side of her body, and she forces herself to be completely still. It takes effort and more willpower than she usually has at this time of the morning, but she holds still anyway. She focuses on feeling calm and takes stock of her body. Her undamaged (minus the slowly healing bullet holes) body. Maybe if she can feel Cable, he can feel her too. That's not the way the link usually works, but this link is clearly following a different set of rules. 

So Lo focuses on what it feels like to have a pain-free body and then pictures Cable. 

_"I really hope this works."_

**•xXx•**

Cable puts a bullet between the eyes of the fucker who threw a car at his left shoulder, and he stumbles back a step as his whole body suddenly feels lighter. He actually can feel sensation in the metal parts of his body, maybe even more than the flesh parts, but he's had plenty of practice at ignoring the pain. His left shoulder has felt dislocated and mangled ever since a car rammed into it, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind and focused on the mission. This, this isn't him ignoring the pain. The pain is gone. All of his usual aches and pains are gone.

"Whoo! And another kiddie seller bites the dust!" Wade cheers. "What's with the face?"

"What face?" Wade is standing in front of him now, and Cable can feel him scrutinizing him from behind his mask. 

"The I-just-took-a-brick-to-the-face face. I know that face. I've given people that face." How Wade can sound both concerned and gleeful is something that Cable will never understand.

"Nothing hurts." Yesterday, he got hit in the left kidney with a two-by-four. He can't even feel that deep ache now. 

"How did that happen? Do you have super great drugs? And can I have some?" Wade pauses there to gasp, and Cable rocks on his heels and feels confusion when his knees don't even pop. "Little Miss Sparkles is putting the whammy on you!"

"Sparkles?" He hates to admit it, but Wade is probably right. Lo is the only new factor, so this has to be her doing. The only real question is, why?

"I know you noticed those fabulous combat boots. Remind to ask her where she does her shopping. Maybe I can get a sparkly suit." Wade's basically talking to himself at this point as he twirls around the parking lot they're in, and Cable grits his teeth as all of his usual pains slowly start making themselves known. The pain is dulled now though. Only a faint ache instead of the usual screaming agony. What the hell is that deranged woman doing? "Snap out of it, Grumpy Bear! We've got kidnapped kiddos to save!"

**•xXx•**

Six days.

For six days, Lo stays locked up in her bedroom in her pajamas while she meditates. That's right. She fucking meditates because she's linked to a time traveling asshole who keeps getting himself hurt in colossal ways. She doesn't even shower. The one time she tried, there was a sharp pain in her head like someone was trying to kick her skull in, and the water was freezing by the time she could see again. 

At the end of the sixth day, she can feel the pull in her stomach tightening. She leans back against the foot of her bed as Cable gets closer to the city, and she focuses on her breathing as she tries to remember what her own body feels like. Sometimes she can't feel anything of herself. She'll touch her left side and feel metal, and she resurfaced once and opened her eyes to look for a wife that's not hers. 

When she finally feels him come to a complete stop and a small sense of relief briefly warms her right ear, she rocks up onto her knees and then staggers to her feet. She still feels misplaced and wrong, and she doesn't bother with changing or even with putting on shoes. Her only goal is to get to Cable and yell at him for being an idiot until she passes out. Maybe then she'll finally be able to get some real rest.

**•xXx•**

Cable walks into the apartment he shares with Wade and pauses just inside to let himself enjoy the quiet. Wade is at the bar, celebrating a job done well, but Cable just wants a shower and a few hours of sleep. So the first thing he does is strip out of his dirty clothes and then takes a quick hot shower. He's learned that if he takes too long, the water will turn to freezing without any warning.

He's just pulled on a pair of shorts to sleep in when he hears the apartment door slam closed, and he locks his jaw to hold in his sigh. He was hoping he'd get to sleep for a couple of hours before Wade came back. Wade's not a horrible roommate, but he's usually loud and doesn't really respect personal boundaries. Before Wade can barge into his room, Cable steps out into the living room. 

"You!" Small hands jab against his chest and push him against the wall, next to his bedroom door, and dark eyes are glaring at him. "I have spent the past week in fucking agony because of you! Do you hate yourself so much that you just let everybody kick your ass?! Because that's the only reason I can think of why you would be this banged up! Well?! Ain't ya gonna say somethin'?! Answer me, dammit! Why are you doing this to us?!" 

He grabs her throat with his right hand and twists so that her back is against the wall. He can still feel her hands shaking against his chest, and he presses in close as she continues to glare up at him. Her eyes are blazing, but her skin is freezing. A quick look shows him that she's only wearing a pair of small shorts and a tee shirt with ripped off sleeves, and every bit of skin he can feel is cold to the touch. Even her bare toes, which are balanced on top of his, feel icy. 

"You said you could only feel emotions. Last time I checked, physical pain isn't an emotion." She looks almost crazed. He's not even sure if she's realized that he has a hand wrapped around her throat. 

"You're different. I've felt everything for the past week, and it's making me lose my fucking mind." One of her hands leaves his chest, and cool fingers drift across his arm and the back of his hand before her fingers overlap his. She presses down, forcing his fingers to tighten around her throat, and she leans into the grip. "I'm not going to live like this. Killing me kills you, so put me into a coma." 

"You really have lost your mind." There's dark smudges under her eyes, like she dipped her fingers in paint and colored in spots on the pale skin under her eyes. She looks like shit. Her eyes flare at his words, but she seems to sink in on herself. 

"I was looking for Aliyah." She says it like a challenge and then smiles when his hand briefly tightens enough to cut off her airway. 

"You need to sleep," he finally says. He doesn't understand her mutation, but he thinks he understands what's happened. She's been feeling everything that he feels, probably ever since she somehow briefly took all of his pain. She looks like she hasn't slept at all, smells like she hasn't showered, and she sounds like she's losing it. 

"Gonna sing me a lullaby?" she asks with a laugh. He wants to throw her on the couch and make her sleep, but they need privacy if she's going to get the sleep she needs.

Instead of answering her, he moves the hand on her throat to her shoulder and pulls her away from the wall. Her feet drag across the floor as he pushes her into his bedroom, and he pauses long enough to lock his door. Wade is a lot of things, but he usually respects a locked door. With that done, he steers her towards his bed. She stumbles to a stop at his bedside and looks over her shoulder at him. 

"I can't sleep. Every time I try, I...it doesn't work." Her voice sounds small, and he can feel her shaking under his hand. 

"You have to sleep. Now lay down."

Cable gives her shoulder a push forward, and she collapses onto his mattress like a puppet with its strings cut. She's lying face down, and she doesn't even so much as twitch as he walks around the bed and lays down on the other side. He's lying on his back, and he turns his head to see her staring at him with wide eyes. Wide, unblinking eyes. Her stare should be unnerving, but he just looks back calmly.

"Sometimes I forget who I am. That's not supposed to happen. Not yet. I can't live like this. You can't live like this." Shaking fingers reach out and her palm rests against the front of his left shoulder. Right where the worst of the ache is. Right where he dug a piece of the car's grille out of the twisted metal of his body.

"We'll talk after a nap. Sleep." Her face scrunches up, like she wants to argue, but she yawns instead.

"I hate you so fucking much," she says through the yawn. Her eyes finally close, but she doesn't move her hand. She falls asleep with her hand fisted over his shoulder, and he eventually falls asleep with his head still turned towards her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's curious, Lo and Cable aren't going to become best buddies. The link caused by Lo's mutation is just going to keep things between them interesting. If anything is ever unclear or if there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
